Xuan was quite familiar with jade artifacts, but most of what he had seen and handled was jadeite. This seal was clearly not jadeite; jadeite wouldn't be entirely yellow, something he'd never seen before. Using his ice-energy technique, he immediately knew it was Tianhuang jade. The yellow jade seal was obviously fake, because the ice-energy test revealed… a faint acid seeping into the surface, with extremely small and weak molecules, similar to the methods used to fake jadeite.
Zhou Xuan is very familiar with the methods of faking jade. To deal with beginners, glass imitations are sufficient. The most common imitation jade products on the market are made of glass, such as small rings, heart-shaped pendants, jade plaques, and Bodhisattva statues. However, glass products are also the easiest to identify.
Because glass products are made by casting, the high-temperature molten glass will inevitably overflow slightly at the edges of the object during molding, forming faintly raised mold lines after cooling. These lines can be seen by touch or sight. If observed under magnification, large and small air bubbles will be clearly visible within them.
For seasoned collectors with expertise, glass artifacts and jade pieces are insufficient. Experts in jade ware then employ techniques like "dyeing" and "coloring" to create fakes. The vast majority of inferior jade in the market is artificially colored by soaking in strong acid. Jadeite and other jade become very soft and porous when soaked in strong acid. At this point, the desired pigment is added, and after soaking and cooling, the color sets. This color is very vibrant and alluring, and not easily detected. However, this color usually fades after one or two years, and once faded, it cannot be restored, rendering the jade worthless.
Jadeite can be faked in this way, and other types of jade can certainly be faked in the same way. Jadeite is a type of jade with the highest hardness among all jades, while other types of jade are much softer, even harder than glass. It is easiest to color jadeite by soaking it in strong acid.
The seal on this Tianhuang stone was colored by soaking it in strong acid. Although the color is bright, the person who made the fake clearly knew that this thing should not be handled for a long time, as the molecules left by the strong acid are harmful to the human body.
Zhang Zhisen held the seal in his hand and examined it carefully. Finally, he smelled it and frowned. He said, "This seal is indeed made of Tianhuang stone, but it is not of superior quality, not even of medium quality. It is a low-quality hard Tianhuang stone."
The owner of the seal was a middle-aged man in his thirties. Hearing Zhang Zhisen's words, he was stunned and said, "Professor Zhang, are you sure you're not mistaken? I spent 80,000 yuan to buy this Tianhuang seal, and I even had it appraised. It was carved from a top-grade Tianhuang stone wrapped in gold and silver!"
Zhang Zhisen shook his head and said, "That's right. This seal was made by soaking hard stone in strong acid for coloring. Although the color is bright, it will fade after two years. Once it fades, it will be worthless. If you smell it carefully and leave it for a while, you will smell a very faint acidic smell. This is left by the strong acid seeping into the stone."
The man paused for a moment, then quickly grabbed the seal and sniffed it for a while. He frowned and said, "Why can't I smell anything?"
Zhang Zhisen smiled and said, "Sir, these identification methods are usually only familiar to experts. Beginners generally cannot identify them. Let me tell you about Tianhuang stone first. Tianhuang stone is produced in the rice paddies along the Shoushan Creek in Shoushan Township, Fuzhou. It is the best variety of Shoushan stone. Because it is extremely rare, and there is almost no production now, it is even more precious and is the most valuable variety of seal stone."
Zhou Xuan knew very little about jade in China, only jadeite. He listened with great interest to Professor Zhang Zhisen's explanation, and because he had used ice gas to test the authenticity of the Tianhuang stone, he knew its intricacies. Professor Zhang's identification was flawless, demonstrating his profound knowledge. "Tianhuang stone splits from its parent mine and is buried in the fields, undergoing millions of years of transformation. Under special environmental and conditions, it gradually changed its original shape, color, and texture, developing its unique appearance. These characteristics can be summarized in six main aspects: shape, texture, color, outer skin, and veins such as radish-like patterns and red streaks."
Zhang Zhisen smiled and continued, “The precious varieties of Tianhuang stone include Tianhuang frozen stone, silver-wrapped gold, white Tianhuang stone, gold-wrapped silver, chicken-fat yellow, yellow with skin, black-skinned Tianhuang, etc. The lesser ones include Nanpi red Tianhuang and Xiguan Tianhuang. The worst ones are hard Tianhuang stone. The gold-wrapped silver one you just mentioned is a top-grade Tianhuang stone, resembling a block of mutton fat, with a layer of fresh yellow skin on the outside. The skin and the flesh form a sharp color contrast, which is far inferior to your seal.”
The man still didn't believe it and asked, "Besides soaking in strong acid to fake it, what other way is there to verify the authenticity?"
"There are several ways to fake Tianhuang stone. The first is to use a stone with a color close to that of Tianhuang stone and a texture similar to radish veins. Grind it into a pebble shape and then use a hard tool to chisel it or roll it in hard sand. Then, apply soil or coloring and steam it at high temperature to make its color and shape similar to that of Tianhuang stone without skin. At first glance, this fake Tianhuang stone looks very similar to the real thing, but upon closer inspection, its surface is covered with chisel marks and always looks unnatural. As long as you look closely at the texture through the surface, you will know that it is a fake."
"The second type is fake stone skin, which is dyed with pigments, heated under high pressure with chemicals, and then ground. Your Tianhuang seal was made using this method. There are actually many ways to identify it. Soaked stone skin is loose and brittle, with large grains, cloudy and opaque, and dried like scars. It is difficult to carve, and when carving, you can only carve a set of lines and scenes, not fine carving."
After listening to Zhang Zhisen's introduction and explanation, the middle-aged man touched and examined the seal in his hand, but finally walked away with a dejected look on his face and his head down.
Zhou Xuan felt that he had learned a lot from Zhang Zhisen's words, and he could better understand the meaning behind them by combining them with his own ice energy.
Several more items were appraised next, and all of them were worthless.
Zhou Xuan sighed inwardly. As expected, the folk collectors were no match for the professional collectors; they couldn't even meet the basic standards of identification.
Fu Pan sat next to Zhou Xuan, occasionally exchanging glances with Shangguan Mingyue. The two were always deeply wary of each other. Li Wei, on the other hand, was feeling dizzy from listening and watching. He had absolutely no interest in collecting.
Wei Haihong enjoys collecting valuable items, but he lacks in-depth knowledge of these things, only possessing a superficial understanding. Given his status, he doesn't find ordinary objects appealing or interesting. After examining so many items for appraisal, none of them met his standards, and he began to feel weary, almost dozing off.
After about three hours of examination, two men brought up a large, long wooden box. The box was painted red and looked quite old, with some paint peeling off. It was about one meter long, and about half a foot high and wide.
Zhou Xuanbing tested the water quality and found two porcelain pieces in the wooden box. The top one was a large water bottle, about 70 centimeters tall, shaped like the bottle held by Guanyin Bodhisattva. The bottle had a smooth and beautiful appearance, and the glaze was also very beautiful. However, Zhou Xuanbing's test showed that this large bottle was made in the official kiln at the end of the Qing Dynasty and was an authentic piece.
Zhou Xuan estimated the price of this bottle to be around 300,000 yuan. Based on past experience, porcelain is generally more valuable than other antiques.
What puzzled Zhou Xuan even more was that there was a small porcelain bottle in the compartment at the bottom of the long wooden box. This was the key point. Even Zhou Xuan himself was surprised by the result of his investigation. The small porcelain bottle was a Ru porcelain!
It is a rare and exquisite piece of Ru ware!
It is Ru ware from the Northern Song Dynasty. Ru ware was first fired in the mid-Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Northern Song Dynasty. It occupies a very prominent position in Chinese ceramics. Due to the continuous war between Song and Jin in the late Northern Song Dynasty, Ru ware only flourished for one or two decades. Because there are very few Ru ware pieces that have been passed down, it is especially precious. According to statistics, there are only 65 pieces of Ru ware in the world at present.
From what Zhou Xuan observed, Ru ware's glaze was far more valuable than other porcelains. It was made from precious agate, possessing a unique color. There's an ancient saying that "agate is the material for tea," referring to its ever-changing glaze, resembling the clear sky after rain, warm and rustic. The surface of the porcelain has fine crackles resembling cicada wings, sometimes called crab claws or sesame flowers. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Ru ware was often inscribed with the characters "Feng Hua," and Cai Jing, a high-ranking official in the capital, had his surname "Cai" inscribed as a mark of honor. From the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties onward, Ru ware used in the imperial court and stored in the inner treasury were considered treasures, comparable in value to Shang and Zhou bronze vessels. Therefore, there's a saying: "Even with a fortune of ten thousand pieces of gold, it's not as valuable as a single piece of Ru ware."
Zhou Xuan also detected the two characters "Feng Hua" on the bottom of the small bottle from the Ru porcelain. The year and authenticity were indeed genuine. He had never seen Ru porcelain before and therefore did not know its true value. However, he knew from books that Ru porcelain was much more valuable than any other porcelain he had ever seen.
At the same time, Zhou Xuan also discovered that the wooden boxes containing the two bottles were made of 300-year-old mahogany, and the boxes alone were worth tens of thousands of yuan. This time, he finally found something good!
Shuai Xuan whispered to Wei Haihong, "Brother Hong, we've finally got something good! This box alone is made of three-hundred-year-old rosewood!"
Two men carefully lifted the box and placed it in front of Liu Yang, a porcelain appraiser. Liu Yang looked to be in his fifties, with most of his hair white.
Before Liu Yang could even open the box, Zhang Zhisen next to him laughed and said, "Old Liu, we haven't seen what's inside yet, but this box looks like a good thing. It's made of real mahogany. Judging from the grain on the bottom, the tree is at least 150 years old. And look at the color and peeling paint. This wooden box is at least 250 years old!"
Liu Yang laughed and said, "We've already crafted the tools before we've even seen the object. Hehe, take a look at what's inside!"
He gently opened the wooden box lid and his eyes lit up when he saw the large bottle inside. He carefully and gently turned the bottle around, making sure it was protected by specially made foam padding inside the box so as not to bump into it. He then examined the bottle from all sides.
Liu Yang chuckled and said, "Of all the pieces we've seen today, this is the first real gem. It's from the official kiln during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. It has a bright color and delicate porcelain patterns; it's a masterpiece."
The two men asked with a smile, "Professor Liu, how much is that worth?"
"There are many opinions on the value of porcelain, and there is no fixed value. It depends on the type of porcelain, the year of manufacture, the level of craftsmanship, and many other factors. But let's talk about your piece."
Liu Yang stroked his chin and said with a smile, "A similar porcelain vase was auctioned in Hong Kong last year, and the final price was 420,000 yuan!" This price was not far from Zhou Xuan's estimate, but Zhou Xuan was more interested in the Ru porcelain at the bottom of the box, which was his main focus.
But the two men smiled with satisfaction and said, "Hehe, thank you, Professor Liu. It's good that the bottle is real. The box is worth tens of thousands, which is more than we expected. Thank you!"
Li Yang smiled and said, "It's nothing, today's appraisal is free, next one!"
Zhou Xuan was taken aback. Why didn't they examine the Ru ware underneath the box?
Zhou Xuan paused for a moment, then stood up and looked at it. He saw that the lid of the wooden box on the table was open, but he could only see the large bottle inside. The compartment for the small Ru porcelain piece at the bottom was sealed, and it was not visible on the surface at all!
Volume 1, Chapter 225: Interception Along the Way
With a fleeting glance, Zhou Fu understood. These two men, the owners of the wooden box, were unaware of the hidden compartment within!
Zhou Xuan used his ice energy to probe carefully again. The hidden compartment was no more than ten centimeters thick. The Ru porcelain bottle was placed horizontally in the hidden compartment and stuffed with soft cloth, which sealed the Ru porcelain bottle tightly. No matter how much the wooden box was shaken from the outside, the Ru porcelain bottle inside would not be damaged.
Because the hidden compartment was very well sealed, and there were no mechanisms at the bottom of the wooden box, the Ru porcelain bottle was sealed inside. The joints of the hidden compartment in the wooden box were also glued shut. Unless the box was damaged and pried open, it would be impossible to take out this small Ru porcelain bottle.
The two men closed the box, thanked Liu Yang, and then carried the box to the side of the hall.
Zhou Xuan smiled at Wei Haihong and said, "Brother Hong, go over and talk to them, see if we can buy it."